The incident outside Pearson's in Princes Avenue last month led to Stuart Kent's tenth conviction for driving while disqualified, Hull Crown Court heard.

He had come to officers' attention on October 23 because another man seated in the Volkswagen Beetle "appeared to be smoking a crack pipe", prosecutor Stephen Welch said.

Police identified themselves and told Kent to leave the car, but he drove off. Officers moved their marked vehicle to try to stop Kent, but he tried to go around it as a cat and mouse game developed in the confined space of the pub car park.

One policeman got out and tried to open Kent's door, but he again sped off. At one stage, his car passed "close to a member of the public sat on a bench".

Kent's final bid for freedom ended in embarrassment as he tried to drive through a hedge into an adjoining car park and got stuck.

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Kent, 39, was arrested and replied: "I do not have a licence or insurance." In interview, he said the car belonged to his long-term girlfriend and he had borrowed it. He had "panicked" at seeing police and "tried to get away", while also admitting his driving was "terrible".

Mr Welch said: "He regretted his actions and accepted he had driven into the fence with the intention of escaping the police officers."

Kent, of Deansbrook Grove, west Hull, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and using a vehicle without insurance.

On September 29, 2016, he had been banned from driving for three years and ordered to pass an extended test before he could drive again after been convicted of dangerous driving and "burglary matters".

He was jailed for three years and eight months for those offences at Harrow Crown Court.

Also among the 69 offences on his record were two of drink-driving. Jayne Bryan, mitigating, said Kent had been recalled to prison for his previous offences, and any sentence passed would "make no difference" to the time he served.

Miss Bryan said he had been released on licence in March and managed to stay out of trouble for seven months.

She said: "He was released from prison with little or no help as far as his previous long-standing drug addictions was concerned."

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